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She escorted him to a room at the rear of the reception desk. Holding the door wide, she indicated for him to step inside. Micheline was seated behind a large antique desk and she looked up with a smile as he entered.
“Sergeant Colton, how nice to see you again.” The bright expression faltered a little. “Although I wish the circumstances were different.”
“So do I.” When she gestured toward a chair on the opposite side of the desk, he sat down. “Eliza Perry, who stayed here at your center, and whom I was assured had left to go elsewhere, was murdered by a member of your group.”
Micheline shuddered. “A terrible tragedy.”
“I’d like to ask you some questions about her time here and the possible involvement of members of your group,” Spencer said. “You may wish to have a lawyer present.”
She opened her eyes very wide. “Why would I do that? We have nothing to hide.”
“In that case, can you explain how you and your fellow group members got it so wrong?” Spencer asked. “I was told that a number of people remembered Eliza moving on. Leigh even said she remembered Eliza telling her she could take her dog with her to the place she was going. That can’t have happened. Eliza had made no plans to leave.”
Micheline spread her hands in a helpless gesture. “I have no explanation
. All I can offer is a suggestion that because we have so many people passing through the center, we confused this poor woman with someone else.”
“Yet there’s the issue of her distinctive dog,” Spencer said. “It’s hard to get Eliza mixed up with someone else when she always had Dobby with her.”
“There’s also the fact that Kenyon spread the story around that she’d left,” Micheline continued in her smooth tone. “The two of them were friendly, so there was no reason to disbelieve him.”
“You’re telling me now that they were friends, yet when I visited last time, I asked if there was anyone she was close to and no one could remember.” Spencer didn’t bother trying to keep the frustration out of his voice.
“But of course. Now we know what happened, it’s all come back to us.”
She was too tricky. Spencer decided to try tripping her up with a direct question. “Did you know about Kenyon Latimer’s drug problems?”
“Oh, goodness, no.” Micheline appeared genuinely horrified. “He joined us in April, just after the earthquake and around the same time as poor Eliza. He’s been living here ever since and has really kept a low profile. I had no reason to believe there were any issues until your colleagues told me what had happened. I’ve never been more shocked or saddened.”
“Latimer threatened Eliza’s sister when she tried to find out what had happened to her. It’s possible he had help, even that the help could have come from someone within the AAG. Do you know anything about that?” Spencer asked.
“Absolutely not. I would never condone such behavior from our members.”
“Do you know the sculptor Helen Jackson?”
Micheline appeared bewildered by the abrupt change of subject. “I can’t say—”
“A little while ago, she confronted a group of your members who were handing out leaflets on Mustang Boulevard. She was angry that her son had paid a thousand dollars for a seminar that she felt was a waste of money. When her complaints attracted attention, Randall and Bart escorted her to her car.” Spencer watched Micheline’s face as he spoke. She seemed mildly interested in what he was saying. “Soon after that, Helen unexpectedly changed her mind and said she’d been mistaken. She didn’t have any problems with the AAG, after all.”
“That’s nice to know.” Micheline flashed him a smile.
“The thing is, when Helen was shouting about how crooked your organization is, Leigh was overheard speaking to you on her cell phone. Apparently, you told her it was bad publicity and she should shut it down.”
“Oh, goodness, I don’t remember that. Well, if this lady you’ve mentioned isn’t happy, I’d be glad to talk to her.” She frowned. “But...I think you said she is happy now. So I’m not sure what the problem is?”
“Another troubling aspect of this case is that an actress named Cordelia Mellor was hired to pretend to be an AAG member who knew Eliza. In the guise of a young woman called Christie Foster, she tried to fool Katrina Perry into believing she had information about what had happened to Eliza but that she was scared to pass it on. It seems that Cordelia was hired by someone who kept her hidden here at the AAG ranch.”
“Well, that can only have been Kenyon, can’t it?”
“Can it?” Spencer asked.
Micheline opened her eyes very wide. “Why, whoever else could it have been?”
“That seems to be the unanswered question,” Spencer said as he got to his feet.
There didn’t seem to be any more to say. Although she was slippery, her distress at Eliza’s death and the guilt of an AAG member appeared to be real. As he left the ranch, Spencer couldn’t help wondering if there was more to Micheline than met the eye. She’d said no one from the group had helped Latimer cover up what had happened to Eliza.
Maybe that was true. But the AAG did like to keep its secrets, and the group was not comfortable with adverse publicity. Would he ever know for sure if Latimer had been the one threatening Katrina, or if Randall and Bart had decided to get heavy on behalf of their boss? Or could it have been a combination of both? He guessed the answer to his own question was easy. Unless Latimer had proof, and was prepared to use it, he’d never know for sure.
